To be her mistress' mistress! the queen's queen!
This candle burns not clear: 't is I must snuff it;
Then out it goes. What though I know her
virtuous

And well deserving? yet I know her for
A spleeny Lutheran, and not wholesome to
Our cause, that she should lie i' the bosom of
Our hard-rul'd king. Again, there is sprungup
An heretic, an arch one, Cranmer; one
Hath crawl'd into the favour of the king,
And is his oracle.

Nor.

102

He is vex'd at something.

K. Hen.
'Tis well said again;
And 't is a kind of good deed to say well:
And yet wordsare no deeds. My fatherlov'd you:
He said he did; and with his deed did crown
His word upon you. Since I had my office,
I have kept you next my heart; have not alone
Employ'd you where high profits might come
home,

But par'd my present havings, to bestow
My bounties upon you.

170

My studied purposes requite; which went Beyond all man's endeavours: my endeavours Have ever come too short of my desires, Yet fil'd2 with my abilities: [mine own ends Have been mine so, that evermore they pointed To the good of your most sacred person and The profit of the state. For your great graces Heap'd upon me, poor undeserver, I {Can nothing render but allegiant thanks,

My prayers to heaven for you, my loyalty, Which ever has and ever shall be growing, Till death, that winter, kill it.

K. Hen.

180

Fairly answer'd; A loyal and obedient subject is Therein illustrated: the honour of it Does pay the act of it; as, i' the contrary, The foulness is the punishment. I presume That, as my hand has open'd bounty to you, My heart dropp'd love, my power rain'd honour, more

On you than any, so your hand and heart, Your brain, and every function of your power, Should, notwithstanding that your bond of duty,

As 't were in love's particular, be more 189 To me, your friend, than any.]

Wol.

I do profess

For mine own ends; indeed, to gain the Popedom,

And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence,
Fit for a fool to fall by! what cross1 devil
Made me put this main secret in the packet
I sent the king? Is there no way to cure
this?

No new device to beat this from his brains?
I know 't will stir him strongly; yet I know
A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune,
Will bring me off again. What's this? "To
the Pope!"

The letter, as I live, with all the business

220

I writ to 's holiness. Nay, then, farewell!
I have touch'd the highest point of all my

greatness;

And, from that full meridian of my glory,

I haste now to my setting: I shall fall Like a bright exhalation in the evening, And no man see me more.

1 Prime, first, foremost.

2 Fil'd, kept pace.

3 Chiding, resounding.

4 Cross, perverse.